Doesn't matter if Microsoft hasn't made it official. The company is working on something that will succeed the Xbox 360. Employees at tech giants like Microsoft are always working on designing the future.

Whether their work sees the light of day is another matter entirely, but several LinkedIn profiles, discovered by Twitter user @supererogatory, show that Microsoft workers are doing new (and exciting?) things.

Here's the rundown: Microsoft's Jeff Faulkner is the "Xbox Next Gen Creative Director"; Senior Creative Director for Xbox Jonathan Harris is "designing the next generation of entertainment"; graphic designer Patrick Corrigan worked on "groundwork and integration for branding elements for next-gen XBOX on all forms of media...ranging from print to UI across future releases of the XBOX platform"; a Microsoft intern "designed and simulated high speed data buses to prevent electromagnetic interference in next-gen devices."

So Microsoft employees are working on next-gen. Surprised? I'm not.

Regardless, Kotaku is following up with Microsoft.

Update: According to Microsoft, "We've proven that we don't need a new generation of hardware to introduce the next generation of entertainment experiences. We believe the key to extending the lifespan of a console is not just about the console hardware, but about the games and entertainment experiences being delivered to consumers. Xbox 360 continues to provide the best gaming and entertainment experience at a great price. We've proven this again and again by reinventing entertainment experiences through software on Xbox LIVE, and with the release of Kinect for Xbox 360."